Thanks for the post @davidsherman. I've been a happy owner of RPHYX since it reopened in 2020 (waited years for that reopening :) ) and earlier this year started to invest in SPC. Being a new fund, the investment in SPC comes from trust in your money management and conservative capital preservation style.

Recently added to RPHYX. I am mostly buying individual stocks. Consumer defensive,energy and Utilities. RYE and RYU would be 2 MF's.

@MikeM: good for RPHYX, for going up year after year, but getting dissed by M* which has it in the wrong category.

I haven't gone to the withdraw side yet, but I did set myself up very much like you @bee. I only set aside 2 years, but I will up it to 3-4 years when I do finally give up my part-time work and start withdrawals. My withdrawal bucket must be more conservative than yours. It's down about 2% YTD. The largest holding is RPHYX, about 40%. I have been pulling money out of the short-term bond holdings and putting it into short term CDs, 3-12 mo durations.
I like your withdrawal % reduction idea to compensate for loss in the bucket.

Keep expectations reasonable. USFR is a portfolio that will lag in rate hikes for now; there is 15-bps ER drag too. Just buying 3-mo T-bills at Treasury Direct or brokerages (commission-free), and roll-repeat, should get 0.83%+.
https://stockcharts.com/h-perf/ui?s=USFR&compare=RPHYX&id=p59078190966
https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_bill_rates&field_tdr_date_value=2022

The 2-yr FRNs trade at 3-mo T-Bill rate + spread (positive or negative). So, they should track the (overnight) fed fund rate closely. You can also buy these at brokerages and Treasury Direct. These are obviously INVESTMENT GRADE.
But these are DIFFERENT from typical FR/BL funds that have floating rate relative to a reference (LIBOR) but are NONINVESTMENT GRADE (RPHYX is an example)
USFR https://www.wisdomtree.com/etfs/fixed-income/usfr
RPHYX https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RPHYX/profile?p=RPHYX&.tsrc=fin-srch

Anyone have experience/knowledge of USFR? Mentioned in WSJ and they say it's primed to move up with the fed funds rate. currently yielding 0.80%

What is working for me this year is RPHYX, TPHD, REMIX and RYU. I have 12 individual stocks that are collectively up 8.25% YTD. I am on a hold pattern for now. REMIX would be my top choice.

Summarizing some things I've posted recently...
We sold all of our dedicated bond funds earlier this year and kept small toeholds in NHMAX and RPHYX. Last Friday we sold the NHMAX toehold.
ALL of the dedicated bond funds we owned are DOWN a little-to-significantly this year. Dedicated bond fund proceeds were invested FFGCX and FNARX an the below-described ladder.
Bond proceeds from the more recent sales of allocation funds were/are being re-deployed into a relatively ST CDs/TNotes ladder (6 mos - 2-yrs, the latter being the sweet spot).
And now adding comments related to this thread...
There can be NO denying that this was the proper way to invest this year, and IMO for the coming months, maybe years.
For this year, who would you rather be, an investor faithfully hanging onto dedicated bond funds DOWN 1%-10-??%%, or an investor who saw opportunity and acted, currently holding FFGCX, UP ~35% YTD, having sold FNARX UP ~30% (at the time), and holding a ST CD/TNote ladder averaging ~2% APY?
BUYing an equity crash is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than BUYing a bond market crash because the reasons for the respective crashes are different and the prospects for recovery are different. No investor should look at them as the same or even similar.
And don't let easy excuses for investment decision failures and confirmation bias for those failures cloud your thinking.
Sadly, an investor takes on much greater risk now with the equity plays noted in this post. But on dedicated bond funds vs a ST CD/TNote ladder, which investor would you rather be, one faithfully holding onto dedicated bond funds for the next couple of months/years, or an investor with a ST CD/TNotes ladder paying an FDIC'd/Full Faith'd 2% average APY?

If you sold your bond funds before a 4 to 6 percent decline and bought your other funds before they moved higher than of course, fantastic timing. Making such a move over the past 10 years (maybe longer) when many talking heads were saying yields can only go higher would have been a very different story. I stick to my plan of mostly buying assets when out of favor. With bonds, as yields move higher so will returns (over time). No reason to bail, and especially in taxable accounts.

Summarizing some things I've posted recently...
We sold all of our dedicated bond funds earlier this year and kept small toeholds in NHMAX and RPHYX. Last Friday we sold the NHMAX toehold.
ALL of the dedicated bond funds we owned are DOWN a little-to-significantly this year. Dedicated bond fund proceeds were invested FFGCX and FNARX an the below-described ladder.
Bond proceeds from the more recent sales of allocation funds were/are being re-deployed into a relatively ST CDs/TNotes ladder (6 mos - 2-yrs, the latter being the sweet spot).
And now adding comments related to this thread...
There can be NO denying that this was the proper way to invest this year, and IMO for the coming months, maybe years.
For this year, who would you rather be, an investor faithfully hanging onto dedicated bond funds DOWN 1%-10-??%%, or an investor who saw opportunity and acted, currently holding FFGCX, UP ~35% YTD, having sold FNARX UP ~30% (at the time), and holding a ST CD/TNote ladder averaging ~2% APY?
BUYing an equity crash is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than BUYing a bond market crash because the reasons for the respective crashes are different and the prospects for recovery are different. No investor should look at them as the same or even similar.
And don't let easy excuses for investment decision failures and confirmation bias for those failures cloud your thinking.
Sadly, an investor takes on much greater risk now with the equity plays noted in this post. But on dedicated bond funds vs a ST CD/TNote ladder, which investor would you rather be, one faithfully holding onto dedicated bond funds for the next couple of months/years, or an investor with a ST CD/TNotes ladder paying an FDIC'd/Full Faith'd 2% average APY?

Portfolio up 2.6% for the year. Energy stocks along with GD, RGR, CHKP,RYU, REMIX, RPHYX,TPHD are the reason along with 20% cash. More in the red than the black though as far as number of stocks/MF's go. May add to REMIX otherwise on hold pattern.

RSIVX Riverpark Strategic Income Fund is a unique fund in that it invests in various debt securities (some less liquid and many non-rated), distressed debt, with a decent allocation to foreign, some convertibles, and a 15% slug to equities.
Some holdings are duplicated from RPHYX, which is Riverpark's short-term HY fund. That's probably the more conservative sleeve.
As @Junkster had mentioned earlier, its held up quite well recently. I think that it's energy and utility investments might have helped there. Its up +0.44% YTD, and over 6% for the past year.
RSIVX is kind of a "go anywhere bond fund", but with a small allocation to stocks added on. Its been working pretty well in this environment.

Thank you @davidsherman for posting. With my narrow view and understanding of SPAC's, I would never have even thought about them as a low volatility investment option, so I appreciate your post and tutorials. I've been in RPHYX for a while so I'm comfortable investing with you. An investment worth considering in this environment.

Added a couple bond funds, PTIAX and MWTRX and index AGG, to Rick's chart for comparison to the alts. CTFAX and TMSRX, 2 alt funds I own, are performing YTD the same as bonds. I guess no surprise.
I was actually looking at my alts and tracked bond funds this morning to see how they have compared return wise this year. As of this morning YTD, CTFAX was down -1.7%. TMSRX down -1.4%. Bond funds I track but don't own, AGG down -1.6%. PTIAX down -1.2%. MWTRX down -1.5%...
A few ultra short bond ETFs I do hold in my withdrawal bucket; MINT -0.2%, FLRN 0.0, JPST 0.0, FTSL +0.17. RPHYX, my biggest holding in this bucket, is +0.01%. Seems like these funds are doing fine through this volatile start to the year.
FWIW.

But since I use MERFX as a cash substitute, 2%-3% per year is fine with me

The problem is for me a cash substitute fund cannot have sustained a loss greater than 2% in a year, and preferably no loss ever. Why take the risk with such meager returns? My cash subs include, SNGVX (1 off year in 31, so it gets a pass on my 2% rule); BBBMX; GILPX, VNLA (ETF) and even good old BSV (ETF). You can buy with confidence that any loss will be small and temporary. Not so clear with MERFX, which suffered a 5.67% loss in 2002 and 2.26% loss in 2008.

Not picking on anyone here, just remembering the statement that SNGVX had only one losing year out of 31. It's now 2 losing years out of 34, with nearly a 1% loss last year. Not much, but something one hopes not to see with a fund used in lieu of cash.
FWIW, BBBMX stayed in the green, gaining 0.01%.
GILPX did not, losing 0.07%. Likewise, MERFX lost 0.19%, VNLA lost 0.18% and BSV lost 0.12%.
These five funds, win or lose, came so close to zero that one might as well think of them all as having broken even. SNGVX was a different story.
Meanwhile, RPHYX kept chugging away, gaining 1.8% last year. Only 11 calendar years so far, but not a single loss.
I'm also taking a closer look at VMLTX. Only 1 losing year out of 34; that was just a loss of 0.16% in 2016. It normally maintains a higher than average duration to get higher returns. But it has shortened its duration to bring it in line with its peers, showing that it can be managed conservatively if conditions warrant.
My parents used this fund in retirement. Yes,

this is still your father's VMLTX.

It was a tough year in this space, but your numbers seem off based on my personal data and MS. BSV was down 1.09 but BBBMX was up 1.18%. For the year as a whole in 2021, my "near cash" holdings were down .04%. Not great but I can live with it. Wish there were better options but I've yet to find one's I'm comfortable with. Hard to argue about RPHYX, which I hold, but would be reluctant to put big dollars into (or most of these vehicles). While things like SNGVX had a bad year I'm OK with that (based on rising rates) rather then risking a serious loss on defaults as is a bit more likely with most of the others. It happened with ZEOIX, which recovered, but stung when it happened.

But since I use MERFX as a cash substitute, 2%-3% per year is fine with me

The problem is for me a cash substitute fund cannot have sustained a loss greater than 2% in a year, and preferably no loss ever. Why take the risk with such meager returns? My cash subs include, SNGVX (1 off year in 31, so it gets a pass on my 2% rule); BBBMX; GILPX, VNLA (ETF) and even good old BSV (ETF). You can buy with confidence that any loss will be small and temporary. Not so clear with MERFX, which suffered a 5.67% loss in 2002 and 2.26% loss in 2008.

Not picking on anyone here, just remembering the statement that SNGVX had only one losing year out of 31. It's now 2 losing years out of 34, with nearly a 1% loss last year. Not much, but something one hopes not to see with a fund used in lieu of cash.
FWIW, BBBMX stayed in the green, gaining 0.01%.
GILPX did not, losing 0.07%. Likewise, MERFX lost 0.19%, VNLA lost 0.18% and BSV lost 0.12%.
These five funds, win or lose, came so close to zero that one might as well think of them all as having broken even. SNGVX was a different story.
Meanwhile, RPHYX kept chugging away, gaining 1.8% last year. Only 11 calendar years so far, but not a single loss.
I'm also taking a closer look at VMLTX. Only 1 losing year out of 34; that was just a loss of 0.16% in 2016. It normally maintains a higher than average duration to get higher returns. But it has shortened its duration to bring it in line with its peers, showing that it can be managed conservatively if conditions warrant.
My parents used this fund in retirement. Yes, this is still your father's VMLTX.

PRWCX CTFAX as buy and hold ESGV JEPI SCHD DSTL to buy/sell as needed RPHYX for paltry income, VARAX BAMBX CVSIX HMEAX ADANX ARBOX at Fido/Schwab. My Vanguard funds are all buy and holds. I have no problem holding numerous funds, since the alternative is earning 1 basis point !

Actually your post summed up the dilemma facing bond investors today:stay with intermediate and long term bonds, hoping for lower yields and capital gains from price increases. Or stay invested in MMA and ultrashort bond funds while anticipating higher yields. I got scared by the rate activity this week and pared PTIAX and redeployed to TRBUX RPHYX SQIFX and a timid allocation to PEGAX .

+1 mikem I've cut back on PTIAX and added assets to TRBUX RPHYX PEGAX and SQIFX These 4 are better than earning 1 basis point in my Fido money market account.

Terminology becomes a confusing issue in these kind of threads. "Short Term Bonds" is a category of M* and permeates search functions at various brokerage houses for competing funds in that category. Short Duration/Limited Duration is often a descriptive term, in titles of various funds, and can often apply to almost any category in which duration is being emphasized. Even the term High Yield can be confusing, often describing credit status references of junk bonds, but occasionally describing the amount of yield within any category of funds. In my cash alternative account, used as an alternative to bank accounts, I often use DHEAX (from the M* category of short term bonds), but it is predominantly a securitized asset fund that is very risky for the category, but I relate to it more as a nontraditional bond oef, with short duration. I often use RPHIX/RPHYX, which M* categorizes as a High Yield bond fund, but with very short duration--one of the least volatile and smooth performing funds I own and I consider it a good alternative to the category of Short Term Bond funds which generally offers too little yield with higher investment grade bonds. (RPHIX/RPHYX has restricted/limited access) Another fund I often use for alternatives for bank accounts, is FPFIX, a short duration low risk from the nontraditional category. I prefer FPFIX over its more well known cousin, FPNIX, which is a very good and low risk short term bond category fund. (note FPNIX is in a limited access status).
With all of that said, I also use a lot of short duration bond oefs in my more risky IRA holdings, that mostly have junkier credit ratings, but often in more of a "trade" role. In 2021 I have use IOFIX, SEMMX, several FL/BR funds, etc. which often provides higher yield and higher total return. In the multisector bond category, even venerable funds like PIMIX are very short duration, along with it's PIMCO relative PEGIX. At any rate, terminology can often be confusing, so the OP may want to more specifically define what he is looking for, and what role he wants those funds to fill in his portfolio.